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Google Update to Include Photos for Medical SearchFebruary 23, 2015

Google’s newest search update will feature photographs to match information for all medical inquiries. The exposure of this news may spur curiosity about what impact this may have on society, but Google affiliates speculate it should benefit browsers once they take time to completely configure the new setting for the search engine.

Impact of Google Search Changes

The Google update will display to searchers who are looking for medical information, accurate images to match their inquiry. A team of Google researchers found that 5% of their 100 billion+ monthly searches were solely based on medical needs. According to Business Insider, Google claimed that 1 in 20 of the company’s searches were specified on health. In order to provide the best and most accurate browsing experience, the multi-billion dollar company pulled together a team of professional doctors and artists to work with to get the feature up and running.

Getting feature widespread

This new feature will be launched on Google only in the United States for now. Google representatives are hopeful this will change in the near future and extend to a multitude of locations throughout the world. Vice President of Google, Amit Singhal, who lead the Google image search engine feature update, is originally from India and hopes that he can use the feature to help his country of origin to better understand medical information that they may not have a great understanding of currently.

Easily misunderstood searches

Singhal gave an example of how a simple search for the word “headache” could result in a misunderstanding, if say, information about brain tumors appears. Clearly this type of result might confuse the searcher, and cause unnecessary concern or inaccurate self-diagnosis. Working with doctors like Philip Hagen from Mayo Clinic’s Healthy Living Online, Singhal set out on a mission to look for ways to clarify search results when using Google, so users can avoid unnecessary cause for concern when researching simple health questions. Dr. Hagen’s critical job involved the task of being able “to apply a clinical lens and make sure the information was properly weighted.”

Not a medical diagnosis

In spite of the development of this groundbreaking feature, the change wasn’t designed to take the place of your Doctor. Having a picture appear in your search results does not constitute a diagnosis by a medical professional. The images are merely a reference to provide a better understanding of medical symptoms to the person conducting the Google search.

Benefits of images with text

People today tied to closely to their technology, and tend to be geared toward visual or kinesthetic learning, as opposed to traditional methods of learning like reading. They are going to need to see images, which is why it is a smart and innovative move for Google to add this feature to their medical search results. As a result, it should definitely prove to benefit individuals who are browsing so that they can best comprehend what they are reading.

Frantic Google searching

It’s not uncommon that people will notice something is off with their body either physically, mentally, or emotionally, and look up their symptoms on the internet in an attempt to self-diagnosis. The trouble is that the computer is not a doctor. Singhal warns that Google is not trying to pass as a doctor, but did state, “We’re hoping to provide a framework for a more informed conversation with your doctor.” He did continue to add his personal opinion being that, “a picture is worth a thousand words, especially when you’re on mobile,” but made sure to clarify that he didn’t set out for the new Google update on medical searches to treat or diagnose any mental or physical disease. It simply is an image to match for the text of a search engine’s results.

In terms of addiction

A person may not be able to grasp the severity or context of the disease module of addiction but if it could be expressed through pictures using this new Google image configuration, then perhaps there is a chance that the stigma can be expunged on addiction.

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